Finding Independence Underwater – Diveheart

September 11, 2019

Christopher Block is 33 years old and lives in a suburb of Chicago called Highland Park. He was injured three years ago attempting a bicycle stunt in a friend’s backyard, breaking his neck at C-5. “They didn’t tell me the brakes were disabled,” he tells. “I had a helmet on but that didn’t help. I went over the ramp and head-first into the muddy bottom of the pond below. I’ve been doing everything I can to get my independence back ever since.”

Chris was sent to Shirley Ryan Ability Center for rehab where he’s been working hard to get his life back. Transfers have been one of the most difficult obstacles for Chris, just as it is for most quads. He’s had four bicep-to-tricep and forearm-to-thumb tendon transfer surgeries to try to gain more strength in his arms and function in his hands. “It’s the bed transfer that I’ve been working on the most,” he says. “I can get in it but getting out is almost impossible. It is impossible with a soft mattress.”

“When I was inpatient at Shirley Ryan, I picked up a flyer one day about this scuba organization called Diveheart,” Chris recounts. “There was a cute girl on the cover which caught my attention. I actually got to know her later. Anyway, they were having an event where anyone could come try it out so I went… and I loved it! It was in a swimming pool but being in the water I felt so comfortable and the weightlessness was amazing! I could move around with so little effort.”